Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your week has been blessed with all good things from above.  I had a shorter week but 5 students came to Christ. Tali prayed to receive the Lord on Thursday. 2 guys, Anthony (a short brown haired baseball player in the PE) and Jaziel (a Latino guy with glasses in the cafeteria) each confessed Christ saying they would pray later. Sometimes I will bump into a student who has later prayed, a couple times a year. So I may find out later. These two guys believed but I don’t know if they really wanted to follow. Tali’s story is below if you’re interested and have time. Please pray she grows in her faith.

Tali sat at a counter height table in a small walk-through corner lounge. It’s at the northwest corner of the BIC building on the first floor. She had a laptop in front of her but was willing to take a few minutes to talk. She had a slight Latina build and an oval face with brown hair past her shoulders, wore a white blouse and jeans. Cute kid. She had circles under her eyes so the semester’s work seemed to have begun for her. She had a cheerful heart, smiled easily. She wanted to travel. I asked her what she would say to God if she died and He asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” She thought for a minute unsure but then said, “All I do is respect others around me, not [just] my things. I try to support others and treat them like they treat me.” When I asked she thought she had a 75% chance of going to Heaven. She went to Church each week. I began to go through the Gospel with her. Saying God had to take away her sins to live inside her I asked her what it was that Jesus had done to take away the sins of the world. She knew He had died.  I told her that was right, that Jesus was the way “God got paid.” She smiled at that with a look that said she wasn’t familiar entirely. I explained the blood of Christ cleansed us.  Jesus said we were to be perfect; we owed God a perfect life but could not pay. When we sinned against people we took away their life (quality of life or things they had spent their life to get). We owe God life. Jesus as the creator God is filled with life. When He pours out His blood it pays God back for all the imperfect things we’ve done owe God something perfect to repay. “So the real reason God forgive you is He got paid,” I said. I then explained the righteousness of God and that when God adopts us he gives us the blessings of His family. He gives us the sacrifice for our sins the blood that cleanses us and the righteousness of God that surrounds us. And He fills us with the Spirit. So you got some place to go, Heaven, and something to wear when you get there, the righteousness of God. Jesus rose from the dead. All this was ours by faith. I asked her if she wanted to be forgiven for her sins trusting in what Jesus had done or thought something else. “Be forgiven for my sins with Jesus,” she replied. I said then that if she wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray and I talked her through it and asked if it was the desire of her heart. “Yeah,” she replied and I said she could pray it silently. I wouldn’t hear her but God would hear and she’d know she was forgiven. “Wanna do that?” I asked. “Yeah,” she replied and she prayed to receive Jesus. I told her then the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100% and she nodded having understood. I went through the Christian life a bit saying everything was by the Spirit’s power. I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front of Bible Promises for You saying it was my birthday as I wrote the date. Happy Birthday! She said cheerfully and I thanked her. I told her I would pray a Bible verse for her each day from now until Spring and one year after asking God to bless her. She thanked me. I gave her The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and explained a Bible study to her. I apologized for taking too much time. “Thank you so much, nice meeting you. Happy Birthday,” she said brightly. “Thank you, nice to meet you too,” I said with a smile and I headed off.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for Evangelism this week if you had a chance God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

This week:

JP, Michelle, Abby, Kylie, Tali